ABOUT STRUMA RIVER
The Struma River is the greatest river in the Western part of Bulgaria. Its catchment area is 10 800 sq.km. It takes its source from the
Vitosha Mountain, runs first westward, then southward, enters the Greek territory at the Kulata village and flows into the Aegean Sea. The river’s length to the border is 290 km. Its greater feeders are the
Strumeshnitsa river, the
Dragovishtitsa river, the
Djerman, the
Pirinska Bistritsa and the
Rilska river.
The left feeders of the river, which take their source from the high mountain parts of
Rila and
Pirin, are fed by rain- snow falls and are characterized by a clearly expressed and stable spring high water and summer and winter low water.
In the river valley of the Struma River there are 56 artificial lakes with a total volume of 141 mln cub.m. Including the vast dam lakes of
Studena,
Pchelina and
Djakovo. Due to the decrease of the industrial production in the country as a whole, the quality of the Struma waters, like most other Bulgarian rivers, bettered. The
Pchelina Dam Lake is of a beneficiary effect as it stops most of the polluting agents.
Many water supply systems for the towns and villages and for the industrial factories are built. The following town purifying stations for wastewater has already been built: in
Kjustendil,
Dupnitsa,
Pernik and
Sofia. It is envisaged to construct new hydro - technical installations such as the
Topolnitsa Dam Lake and to reconstruct the water supply facilities of many towns and villages. The irrigated areas in the Struma river valley once were 63 000 hectares, and in the region in question they are presently about 50 000 hectares. A lot of pumping stations and irrigation canals were constructed, too.
Working thermo - mineral and balneo - therapy establishments are included, in the Struma valley such as those in
Kjustendil,
Nevestino,
Sapareva Banja,
Rudartsi,
Pernik,
Sofia and others. The thermomineral springs are phenomena of an extreme national and international significance and they deserve care for preservation and enrichment.
Description
